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Rick: Thanks for the Rubber Soul/Revolver compliment.
Those records are such milestones for us. I don't know that we specifically
set out to sound like the Beatles or those albums in particular
with Giant On The Beach, but you're quite right to detect that they
influence us in general. What those records have going for them
is first, the songwriting of the Beatles, which is impeccable and
probably the best ever in rock music or maybe all of popular music.
Secondly, they created sonic environments for those songs which
were tightly arranged, yet totally groundbreaking in their creativity
and use of experimental production techniques. That band never tired
of pushing the envelope. And in our way we tried to push our own
sonic envelope on Giant On The Beach. We strove for a greater depth
in songwriting, and worked to make the arrangements more powerful
or poignant. We also wanted to harness our ever-expanding palate
of production techniques. Since we record in our own studio, we
are free to experiment much more than if we were on the clock. Also,
without the benefit (or drawback perhaps) of an outside producer
or engineer, we have to figure out techniques by ourselves, and
we used that on Giant On The Beach. This is the first record on
which we used computer technology, so while we look up to bands
like The Beatles for their creativity and fearlessness in exploring
the possibilities of recording, we don't necessarily try to copy
their sounds. We didn't make this album to sound like anyone in
particular, and we all listen to a lot of different music all the
time. But what does happen is that when we start working on a song,
it may suggest an influence, and then we may check out the song
that it reminds us of. We do this a lot, not to copy, but to get
ideas. We might have listened to The Beatles, but we also checked
in on some new stuff. If you want some names, The Foo Fighters,
also Rainbow Quartz label mates Outrageous Cherry. But overall we
were trying for an evolution of our sound.
Kristin: We're all Beatles fans. We grew up listening
to their music, so there's probably a thread of their influence
in everything we do, but it's not necessarily a conscious act. It's
like a backdrop that frames our culture and times- the Beatle influence.
In making GOTB, I was listening to a lot of Paul Weller, his more
recent solo stuff. His music encouraged us to get a bit more "out
there" and crank up the intensity level of our recordings.
Michael: The Beatles and George Martin, for me are
without question, the ones that set the standard for writing pop
music and turning it into a high-art form. I love all periods with
a leaning towards albums like "Help", "Pepper"
and "Hey Jude". For Giant On The Beach, there certainly
was a sound I was going for on each track and derived ideas from
past influences and used my musical instincts for guidance. For
specific reference ideas I was listening to Jellyfish, The Grays,
old Wings albums and XTC. The sounds on those artist's albums are
all on the 'tastefully vintage' side, but with more modern production,
which is what we were going for.
NBU: The songwriting on Giant on the Beach seems
pretty evenly divided between Rick and Kurt. Is there a healthy
competition there? Do you bounce ideas off each other, or do you
each take control of recording your own songs? How would Kurt and
Rick describe the contributions of Kristin and Michael?
Rick: There is a healthy competition between Kurt
and I in as a much as we are often impressed by each other's songs
and then challenged to come up with something as good as the other.
We work both separately and together, depending on the song. Sometimes
we each come in with a demo that suggest a good bit of the song
structure and an arrangement. However, there are also collaborations
("Gone Before"). Kristin and Mike add a lot to the process,
particularly on this record. There were a couple of my songs that
I chose not to make demos of on purpose so that they would become
band-arranged. One was Astral Man, another was Telescope. We kept
playing them in rehearsal and they evolved with every member of
the band making significant contributions to the way it came out.
Kristin often comes up with leads that are breathtaking and take
the song into higher emotional levels, Very compositional, like
classical music. Mike is an extremely talented musician and composer
in his own right, so he added that experience to the recording process.
He varied his approach on bass so extremely from one song to the
next that I like to think of him as being about 5 different bassists
in one. Kurt is a master of harmonies. We tend to think very similarly
in terms of drumming (unfortunately for him, I was originally a
drummer) and we are both recording fanatics. We will study what
so and so producer did on whatever classic record to get "that
drum sound" or guitar tone.
Kurt: There's definitely a healthy competition there,
but it's Ok because the result is that we both contribute better
songs to the Grip Weeds. We've been writing separately a bit more
these days, but we always bounce songs off each other. "Gone
Before" is one instance where Rick had written part of the
song- it was like a folk song. I thought it could be harder and
more dramatic, and wrote the bridge to give it more drama. Maybe
because I'm a producer I hear songs in my head as finished recordings-
I heard this song heading in a harder direction, which is how it
turned out. It's great as a songwriter to work with musicians who
turn your songs inside out and figure out what makes them tick.
Kristin and Michael are serious musicians who take the time to create
fully realized parts that elevate the songs to another level.
Kristin: On this new album I have once again focused
almost all my energy on the guitar work even though I did co-write
"Closer To Love" with Kurt. He and I wanted to create
a story with an early "Hollies" vibe. When I work with
Kurt and Rick on one of their new songs the first thing I need to
do is get inside it and find out where they want to go with it,
specific sounds or instruments they might want to hear. I'll then
spend alot of time working up different guitar lines and parts,
playing off the song's basic riffs-kind of pulling the song open.
Michael: When getting parts ready for Giant On The
Beach, the boys would give me CD demos of material or email my MP3
files of songs with and without the bass lines. For Kristin's song
'Closer to Love', she gave me a cassette recording made on a little
Radio Shack tape recorder! Some of the material had some parts pretty
well developed, which I just added to, whether it was further distilling
a good idea or recommending the sound as to which bass and amp setup
to use. With songs with no bass part, I was free to come up with
my own material. Each Reil has a different collaboration style;
Rick leaves all the doors open and will entertain all the ideas
brought to the table, then sifts through and either picks the one
he likes the best, or we construct a new part based on several ideas
resulting in a whole new idea. Kurt is more of a 'director' in that
when he wants a specific part, he pretty much wants that part down,
but will swing with other ideas IF you present a compelling case
for it. He also was open to trying new ideas as was I with regards
to trying different basses and amps until we came up with what we
thought was the best part and sound for the song. All in all, the
whole process was intensely creative and balanced with just the
right amount of fistfights and group hugs.
NBU: How does the experience of writing and recording
Giant at your own studio (House of Vibes) impact the album? Do you
ever miss the objectivity of an outside producer?
Rick: We definitely don't miss an outside producer.
Unless it's one of those great producer engineers like Andy Johns
or Eddy Kramer, we would see it as an interference. We have such
strong ideas of what we want to do and I've heard stories of producers
wrecking albums with preconceptions of commerciality that turn out
to be wrong. That said, we would love to have an experienced engineer
sit behind the board and bounce ideas off of. Recording in our studio
is an essential component of our sound. There are musicians who
think they need big budget studios or certain kinds of expertise,
but what I think they don't realize is that the most important factor
(after talent and creativity) is TIME. Many a band have gone into
a big budget studio and have gotten a terrible result because they
had to rush. When you have to rush you can't experiment; you don't
have time to make mistakes and find your own recorded sound. We're
able to get very much the sound we want, especially on this record
because by now we have some engineering skill and production experience.
Kurt: From the very start, the Grip Weeds were a
DIY group. Early on there was no one there to help us and we had
no choice, but now we're very used to handling all aspects of a
production. We like having total control over our sound and presentation-
for me, it's part of the package- equally important to the song
itself is how it's performed and recorded. It keeps things simple
to just handle it all ourselves, and take the risk to rise and fall
solely on your own merits. Recording is like a big experiment- you
never fully know how it's going to turn out- you just kind of guide
the process along and hope for the best. It's something I enjoy.
It's all about working with the right people who understand your
vision. We 'd just prefer at this point to produce ourselves, but
I'm not adverse to someday working with someone to get another viewpoint
on our music. I'd like to work with an engineer though- that'd take
the heat off us! Producing yourself works both sides of the brain-
it's like singing and drumming. That comes naturally to me, but
some people can't understand how I do it. I can't either, I just
don't think about it. Performing and producing at the same time
is similar.
Kristin: We are so lucky to have our own studio.
It allows us incredible creative freedom and a real opportunity
to explore ideas. Most independently financed bands could never
achieve the "major label" sound that we get out of our
basement. It would cost too much. The amount of hours and detail
that went into this recording is huge. I don't think any of us really
wants an outside producer except to give us some technical pointers.
I personally feel very protective of the sound that we create ourselves
and wouldn't want to give anybody else the control. It is however,
sink or swim....We've learned by our mistakes. At least we seem
to be getting better at it with each release.
Michael: This impacts the Grip Weeds in a number
of ways. Everyone with a laptop and a copy of Pro Tools is calling
themselves a producer these days. I think as producers, the Grip
Weeds do a great job. Since we do all the work ourselves, this gives
us the time to be more objective, take steps back and have a look
at the overall progress, and the return to tweak, edit, and re-work
if need be. For me, a producer by definition is someone with expert
musical knowledge and can make a good song great through the process
of hearing the essence of the idea, and honing and polishing that
idea so that it becomes it's clearest possible interpretation. Certainly
musicians like Sting, U2, Peter Gabriel, Sir Paul who are not just
still around playing the 'nostalgia circuit', but still flourishing
as artists with fresh evolving stylistic ways to express their music,
make use of producers so they can just concentrate on the music
itself. I certainly believe the Grip Weeds would benefit from another
set of ears behind the desk for that reason. Self-producing rarely
gives you the chance to get out of that 'producer-head' mentality,
so it would be cool to run through a part just thinking about the
performance without thinking "Oh, I just got an idea for a
keyboard part".
NBU: The artwork on Giant depicts a painting of
a giant genie gazing down at the band. Who came up with the artwork
and concept?
Kristin: We all wanted something different and beautiful
and fun. The genie cover painting is a gorgeous powerful image and
Kurt's graphic design work is very cool. I was always really into
fabrics, tapestries and Moroccan, middle eastern designs and colors.
We were able to incorporate all that into the artwork. We scanned
our clothes, our pillows...the photo shoot for the CD is my bedroom!
Kurt: Kristin came up with the idea. It can be interpreted
in many ways, which is what attracted me to it- one way to look
at it is that the genie represents our music, which we conjured
up collectively and it's bigger than all of us. In any case, it's
something we haven't done before- it's certainly different from
our other covers. We didn't want something safe and obvious- we
wanted to challenge ourselves and the audience.
Rick: The idea for the Genie came specifically from
Kristin, but the whole band jumped on it. We had a meeting at Mike's
apartment one night and he served up some kind of intoxicating beverage,
and it all took off from there. We really wanted something different
for this cover, not just a picture of the band or something that
looked too much like the last one. The image of the Genie struck
us as outrageous. There's a lot you could read into it. I find it
to be an image of power, of unleashing huge creative forces and
of wishes that will be granted. Of course, feel free to come up
with your own interpretation. That's part of the fun.
Michael: Well, the image of the cover certainly
has evolved to all kinds of symbolism that means different things
to different people, but hey, here's the truth. All of us sat in
my living room one afternoon and started charting out ideas for
the cover of the album, the website and all things Grip Weed. I
broke out the beer and bourbon, and the ideas were flowing all over
the place, just like the beer. Then Kristin says "we should
call it 'Giant On The Beach', and then Rick says "yeah, that's
cool, I love that". I say "Hmmm…that certainly conjures
up some cool imagery". Kurt says "I don 't know, Giant
On The Beach?". It was Kristin's idea, bless her little rockin'
heart.
NBU: Has the band members' involvement in various
side projects over the years informed the work of the band? Or are
side projects and the Grip Weeds deliberately kept separate and
distinct? Does the experience of producing other bands (at House
of Vibes) impact the work of the Grip Weeds?
Kurt: When we produce other people, we work very
closely and almost become members of the band- that gives us a perspective
on their working methods, and sometimes it's influenced us to do
things differently or try other ways of working that we wouldn't
have thought of before. It's an added benefit of doing production
work. It's similar with the side projects: Occasionally, I work
with Jim Babjak and Dennis Diken from the Smithereens in Buzzed
Meg. We play mostly Jim's songs and I'm the front man- that's different
for me, having spent most of my time behind the drums. For one thing,
it's made me a better guitarist, which directly impacts the type
of songs I'm capable of writing.
Rick: Side projects enrich the sound of the band,
especially if they involve working with bands that don't sound like
the Grip Weeds. I find that working outside of the band allows me
to work in different ways in o things that I might not have thought
to do. Kurt and I have done production sessions with other bands
who work differently from us, and we learned a lot of useful things
from them. We were also forced to develop some of our studio skills
more quickly because when we produce bands, THEY are on the clock
and we have to make them sound great quickly. Of course, they benefit
from techniques we worked out more laboriously in Grip Weeds sessions,
so its beneficial for everybody. One of my side projects is a group
called The Wyld Olde Souls which is much more acoustic than the
Grip Weeds and features two female singer songwriters. I have approached
this situation much differently than The Grip Weeds, yet what I
learned in that project I was able to apply to Grip Weed recordings.
Kristin: We all continually work with other musicians.
It keeps us fresh and interested. The Grip Weeds right now are a
huge job and very time-consuming. It's taken all of my focus.
Michael: As far as side-projects are concerned,
I can say that the Grip Weeds have certainly enhanced my side projects
in terms of live performance and new musical ideas I can bring to
the table. The Grip Weeds certainly have a very genre-specific style
heavily influenced by a literal who's WHO of rock. This benefit
works both ways as my side project influences and musical choices
are now part of the Grip Weeds evolving musical palette. I constantly
strive for higher musical challenges through my works in jazz and
orchestral writing, and certainly these factors manifest themselves
in my playing, which then of course show up on Grip Weeds CDs, just
don't tell the band I was going for that Charles Mingus vibe on
"Telescope"!
NBU: So what's next for the Grip Weeds? What are
your plans around the new album? Will you be touring?
Rick: We will concentrate on promoting Giant On
The Beach. Specifically, we have not yet learned how to play the
whole album, which I would like to do. I don't mind "resting"
some of the older material to concentrate on the new stuff. Its
very challenging and for me its where the development of the band
is. I would also like to see this record break us to a wider audience.
It would be good for the band to be able to play a longer show at
a bigger venue, maybe with a little production value in the show.
We have a sizeable catalog of songs now, many in different styles
and sometimes the club gigs can be limited in what you can play.
Kristin: After the new year we will be doing more
live shows and our record label, Rainbow Quartz will be releasing
the CD worldwide. We are currently working on shooting a video and
building our website. There is talk of going to Japan and Europe
which I am really looking forward to.
Kurt: Yes, touring here and in Europe and probably
Japan in 2005. The label wants us to get out and promote this album-
we plan to stand behind- or below- our genie!
Michael: Wow, it's been such a wild year for me.
Each move towards what we are trying to achieve just gets bigger
and bigger. Gigantic things will be happening, be careful for what
you wish for!
For a listing of upcoming shows and to purchase
a copy of Giant On The Beach, goto GripWeeds.com.
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